A Life Revived
by AoNoBleachShoujo
Summary: Ichigo is reunited with an old childhood friend, and while so, strange and horrifying events start to occur, and begin to endanger his best friend's life and everyone Ichigo knows. Can he and his friend put a stop to it all?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my new story! I SHOULD NOT BE MAKING IT RIGHT NOW LOL I still have to finish my Dark Side of the Blacker Moon one, but I was bored so I decided to go ahead and make my prologue at least. DO NOT BE DISAPPOINTED IF 1, this does not have yaoi or romance! This happens after Ichigo gets his Soul Reaper powers back from Rukia after beating the Fullbringers and leave it at that. This will stay close and true to Kubo's original content. Also I will be using some Spanish possibly, but also some Portuguese terms and so I've looked for a translator who speaks it fluently in case I don't anger native speakers in the future haha.**

**NOW; DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach, but only my OC's. Enjoy and let's let this epic and harrowing story be untold!**

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**Karakura Town**

**Month and Year: February, 1985**

It was a cloudy and chilly evening, the sky was threatening to snow down upon the Soul Reapers who waited for their enemy to arrive. Among them was Kisuke Urahara, he held his dear and powerful Benehime in hand and waited along with them. They waited in the middle of the street, there weren't too many people around, all the townspeople had been put to sleep to protect against casualties. Kisuke wasn't involved with these underlings, he kept his presence hidden remembering full well he was a traitor to the Soul Society, he would step in only if it was necessary.

The cold breeze made Kisuke's striped hat flutter in the air, as well as the rest as his clothing he wore, the cold did not bother him, he had fought battles before in the freezing winter and humid summers in the past. The biting cold was nothing compared to what was coming for them, it was deadly and potent.

"Don't cha need a hand?" A voice said behind him.

Kisuke turned his head to the side, and there stood Shinji Hirako. Automatically memories he had of him as a former captain flew and went through his mind, this was the first time in decades they had seen each other since they fled the Soul Society. Shinji wore a black collared - long sleeve shirt with a white tie and dark jeans, his hair went past his shoulders, not as long as he used to have it when he was in his position as Captain.

"I really appreciate it Hirako, but I don't want to put you in any danger. You're not fit for this fight."

"Can't I least be some sort of back - up?"

"I'll say it one more time; the enemy we are about to face...is almost as strong as Aizen and just as merciless. His power...is unlike any other Hollow from the past. If you were to fight him face to face, you may lose yourself in the process, and become a threat to not only yourself but to others as well, that goes for a Vizard such as yourself."

Shinji had his head bowed down. He wanted to say something against his warning, but couldn't. The tone Kisuke had held such concern and fear for his safety.

"If you say so, and if he's that dangerous, I'll step down."

"The Garganta is opening! Everyone be ready!" Someone shouted.

And so it did. Inside it were numerous Arrancars within. All dressed in bone white uniforms, they're eyes were only slivers of light. In the center was a tall man, their leader. His smile was cold, and crazed.

"My dear men, let 's reign terror upon this land."

Suddenly, the earth shook. The buildings in the area began to collapse, and they went from white, to a rust colored texture, everywhere the Soul Reapers looked, every surface was covered in blood and rust, it was like the look of an after battle. The sky went from grey to a light orange, and minutes before the Arrancars had arrived, it began to snow and fall like dried ash. The sight made them feel uneasy.

"Just this is just the start of his power, what you all see...is just a manifestation of his bloodlust." Kisuke stated.

"I can see that. I'll be off on my way. This breaks my heart that me and the others can't help you." Shinji said sadly. "I wish you guys a hella lot of luck." He flashed stepped away.

"Ah look, we have guests for this party." The Leader said happily.

He, and other Arrancars jumped down onto the street, and walked closer. The Soul Reapers stiffened with fear. This made the leader smile with delight. He stopped, his men stopped as well, and he lifted his arms to welcome them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I am the current King of Hueco Mundo, Arruinar. And I've come crash this joint." He bowed with one arm by his chest.

He had black hair that went down past his shoulders, he was lean and thin, but he had a muscular figure. His eyes were a vibrant purple.

"If I may, I would like to borrow one of your men." His irises shrunk, and his smile went from ear to ear.

He flashed towards them at high speed, and grabbed one man from the crowd. He held the helpless man by the jaw, and he frantically tried to pry the insane Hollow's grip from his face.

"Let me show you, just how weak you all are compared to me."

Something began to happen to the man he hung onto, his Soul Reaper uniform and skin started to peel off in pieces and float upwards in the air. The man started to groan from pain, then leading to screaming in agony. His whole body started to convulse and his flesh started to quiver, it seemed his form was reshaping into something else. Then blood started to spray from his back and a pair of insect wings started to sprout, the man, or now creature continued to make inhuman squeaks and noises. A white blob of goo started to come out of his mouth and it covered his face, now forming into a Hollow Mask, a hole formed in it's chest, its uniform was no longer in existence, and it finished its form, it now was a humanoid insect.

The Soul Reapers were quite terrified at this point, a few ran off screaming, one crying and calling the name of the man Arruinar had killed, most likely a friend of his.

Kisuke stepped forward, he was shaking but he kept his nerves down. Arruinar noticed this. He admired this man already.

"Are you afraid of me? I can see you are, yet you still desire to stand against me? I am very impressed."

"I won't let you take another life. Let's end this." Kisuke's eyes glared at him.

"As you wish, my Captain." Arruinarr said with glee.

Arruinarr drew his blade and charged, both of their weapons clashed, they echoed into the night and into the rust colored sky.

"A Life Revived"

19 years ago.

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**New chapters will be added when "The Dark Side of the Blacker Moon" is near finished, probably by the end of this summer! Please be patient.**


	2. Chapter 2

**July 15**

**Present Time**

"Ichigo, get down here, it's nearly ready!" Karin yelled from downstairs of the Clinic.

"Yeah, I got it."

If it wasn't for his sisters reminding him, Ichigo almost would've forgotten his birthday. Things had been slow moving yet hectic the past few weeks. He would wait almost every night for Rukia to say something back from the Soul Society but she hadn't. Since she was now the lieutenant of the 13th Squad her personal time was shorter so she couldn't always get back to him. He was just bored, and he knew everyone else was busy and didn't want to bother them and just needed someone to talk to. Calling or talking to Kiego was only a last resort if he had to. But soon he would have to face them all coming to the house to help celebrate for one evening where he was happy to have them over. He had finished his homework, which used to be rare back when he was a Soul Reaper full time and now it's a breeze to do. It was also much quieter since Kon went with Rukia and he didn't have to deal with the obnoxious lion plush anymore.

He got up from his chair and stretched his arms and yawned. He looked at his watch, it was past 7:30, sometimes if he was sleepy enough he'd just go straight to bed if there was nothing else to do, but tonight was special and he passed on hitting the sack. His stomach growled. Meaning it was literally time to shape up and have fun. He wore a plain white t-shirt and some comfortable blue shorts and was bare-foot, he liked wearing this when it was hot. He left the bedroom, closed the door, and went down the stairs. He could smell Yuzu's cooking and saw her at the stove, steam was rising into the air and he heard the sizzling sound of cooking oil as well. He smiled. He was already relaxed and old memories went through his mind when he would come into the kitchen as a kid and, in Yuzu's place, his mother was in front of the stove. Masaki made sure everyone's birthdays were good and that they felt special.

"Brother, could you get the dishes set up on the extra table over there?" Yuzu pointed to the extra table.

"No problem."

He noticed some windows in the house were opened, it was mid -summer so to save some of the energy used for the air conditioning, his father had opened them to let the breeze in. Plus, since there was cooking, it let the extra heat the oven was making go out the windows.

Ichigo grabbed the plates and put them on a table set for six people. Just looking at the empty plates alone was making his stomach growl more.

"It smells really great, Yuzu." Karin walked in.

She wore her usual sweats and still had on a soccer shirt she wore from practice earlier, still the carefree dresser like she has always been. Yuzu still wore her strawberry clip-on hairpin but she took the time to wear her light brown hair to look nice for the guests.

"Thanks Karin, did you finish the dishes, Ichigo?" She looked away from the pans on the oven for a moment to turn and look at him.

Right as she asked he finished setting the last plate.

"Yep, just now." Ichigo warmly answered.

"THEN LET'S START!"

All three of them jumped by the sound of their father's voice. An invisible electrical line went by Ichigo, his senses sharpened automatically for what was coming. He heard the loud stomping of footsteps coming his way, they then ceased and he heard sliding on the wood floors. Ichigo jumped 5 feet into the air and saw his father glide underneath him and instead of hitting Ichigo like he aimed for he crashes into the wall. Ichigo landed on his feet, pretending he wasn't there and exhumed to wear an unimpressed expression.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Yuzu asked, slightly concerned.

"I have splinters in my feet but I'll live." Isshin grumbled.

"And whose fault is that, I wonder?" Ichigo said, sitting in one of the chairs with one arm over the back of it.

"What's wrong with me wanting to wish a son of mine happy birthday?!" Isshin cried, sounding like a little child.

"You've could've done it without the surprise attack and I'd be just fine with it." Ichigo said softly, he got up from his chair and walked to him.

"Oh you wanna fight now? Bring it!" Isshin got his game face on, and held up his fists.

Ichigo bent over and pulled his father into an embrace. He wrapped one arm to his back. Isshin could only sit there frozen trying to process what his son was doing exactly. His eyes softened.

"Thanks though, I know you did it just for me. Thanks for raising me for the past 18 years and for mom as well. She'd be proud of me and I'm sure she wishes to be with us tonight. Thanks for being my dad." He said softly, Ichigo's caramel-brown eyes showed his appreciation.

Ichigo hasn't hugged him since before his mom died. The last time Isshin remembered was maybe when he was 7 or 8 years old, but wasn't sure when exactly. The once Soul Reaper was going to hug back but instead he falls forward on his face, Ichigo had his sight set elsewhere, not paying attention to his father's newest mishap. Ichigo was asking his sisters if there was anything he needed to do help set up the party, while Isshin's unseen flustered face was starting to redden.

"Ugh, Ichigo, thanks for ruining the tender moment." His father moaned quietly.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Automatically Ichigo ran to open it.

"Wait, shouldn't I get it?" Yuzu suggested.

"Nah, you have your hands full, I'll let them in." Ichigo waved.

"Thanks brother, I'll get the drink cups set up."

While he did, Karin walked beside Yuzu with a smile and amused expression and giggled. Her twin hears and looks at her confused.

"What's so funny?"

"Ah, you know; Ichi's never been this relaxed in a long time. And I saw you hide some tears after he just hugged Papa Goat Chin." She teased.

"I wasn't crying! There was some steam in my eyes." She lied.

"Sure, sure. Man, how long has it been since he's hugged anyone of us? It's been too long. It's kinda funny to see him so open."

"He did hug me a little while back, when I showed off my scores for my test, no big deal."

"I think we should do it more often is all I'm saying." Karin shrugged and suggested.

"You're weirding me out, Karin."

"It'll come eventually when we all need a hug, haha. I'm gonna get my drink." She left her sister's side.

Ichigo opened the door slowly, thanks to his dad he learned to be cautious and sneaky over the years in case he decided to ambush him, and opened it all the way and peered over the edge,

"ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ichigo distinctively dodged the oncoming attack ball of Kiego and his best friend slips and slides on the floor and falls on his face, moaning.

"Ha...ppy...Birth..day..." Kiego raised a thumbs up.

"You know I'll evade your stampedes no matter what, and you still don't learn."

Usually when Keigo attacked him at school he's always not in the mood, however here he was sort of holding back the urge to laugh, and he smiled. He was glad he and the others were here.

"I concur. You never learn." A female voice replied.

"Come on in, guys." Ichigo said cheerfully.

Tatsuki and Orihime where the first to enter, both girls wore a smile to greet him. Chad came in next and he made a small wave to Ichigo.

"Hey, where do you want your gifts?" Tatsuki asked, holding up a bag that was light blue.

"Just hand them to my dad, if he's not laying on the floor dying he said he'd take care of them."

"What do you mean by "dying?" " Orihime tilted her head, confused.

"Nothing to worry about." Ichigo said.

"You can take mine too." Keigo raised a small box in his hand, still in pain on the floor.

"Thanks." Ichigo bent down and grabbed his, he decided to hang on to it and put it in his shorts pocket since it was so small and he could open it later.

So far there were two people missing, Mizuiro and Uryu. As if on que, Ichigo saw Mizuiro standing over Keigo lecturing him.

"Where's four-eyes?" Ichigo asked Orihime.

"Ah, he said he might be late and he apologized in advance." Orihime chuckled.

"He's always the one with the excuses." Ichigo sighed.

"Ah cut him some slack, Ishida's been there for you when he can, right?" Said Tatsuki, giving him a playful shove.

"Dinner is ready, come pick your choice of drink and eat up!" Yuzu announced.

10 minutes later, Ichigo sat at the separate table with everyone as they started filling themselves up with curry and the seafood that had been prepared all afternoon. Yuzu had done most of the cooking herself and had to ask to get off early from her classes just for Ichigo. For this he made a mental note to do something for her hard work, the food was so delicious. He looked at one of the empty seats, Uryu still not in sight.

"You think he's okay?" Orihime asked.

"He's a Quincy or whatever, right? If there's trouble he can handle himself." Tatsuki pointed out, taking a drink from her cup.

Everyone knew. After Ichigo's battle with Aizen he told everyone with the help of his dad about everything. Ichigo was happy everyone decided to still stick with him and not freak out or ignore him afterwards. They all knew he was a Soul Reaper and he even told them about the existence of Hollows, Arrancars, and Quincy. Ichigo warned them to not tell anyone else, because humans were not supposed to know by the Soul Society's rules. So far everyone was extremely chill.

There was a knock on the door. Ichigo got up and answered it, there was the said "Quincy" on the doorstep, lightly panting and sweaty.

"What happened to you? Did you take a detour and go the gym for a work out or what?"

Uryu made a scowl but chuckled.

"I'll explain later, sorry I'm late Kurosaki."

He handed a white box with the Quincy insignia on the lid. Ichigo frowned and decided to tease him about it.

"Couldn't you have done a simpler wrapping of the gift?"

"You need to get used to it." Uryu spat, one of his eyebrow ticked.

"But thanks for coming anyways." Ichigo gave him a hard pat on the head, causing his glasses to nearly fall off.

Ichigo led him to the kitchen to help serve himself. After everyone had settled in they remained in their seats and talked amongst themselves, mostly about school and grades, and one would mention a Hollow or two and bragged about how they killed it off.

Then Uryu spoke.

"Kurosaki, can I have a moment with you?"

"What is it?"

The face Uryu gave him was serious, he moved his eyes to the right as if saying "it needs to be private."

"Fine then. Excuse us guys."

Both boys got up from their seats, their friends curiously watching them for a moment but went back to their conversations. The two of them stood by the stairs. Uryu looked back at them and then around the hallways to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"This is about why I was late. I saw something odd on the way here."

Ichigo's brows went up, his attention was in full and put his hands on his hips.

"What happened?"

"I don't know what it was I saw exactly. It happened half a mile from here, if you want to check it out for yourself and see if you felt the same thing I did..."

Uryu paused.

"Well? ..." Ichigo said, slightly impatient.

"I saw a person and he or she seemed to be talking to a Hollow. This person didn't look like a Hollow himself and it was speaking calmly to it in a language I couldn't decipher."

Ichigo was silent, trying to picture the scene in his head, it sort of gave him a funny feeling, almost chills, what? ...he was getting chills?

"That's sort of freaky, did you see the guy's face?" Ichigo gulped down his nerves.

"Are you scared? That's not like you at all." Uryu teased, his serious expression loosened up.

"Hey, I don't know why it seems creepy to me, but did you see his face?"

"No, it was too dark. Both the Hollow and the person didn't seem to noticed me either, I only observed from a far distance."

Ichigo looked down in thought. It didn't sound like anything too serious, strange yes but he would keep tabs on it. If it had something to do with Soul Reapers or Hollows he'd have to check it out.

"Thanks for the info. Next time I call Rukia, I'll let her know about it."

Suddenly without expecting it this time, someone grabbed Ichigo by the neck and he felt something very soft against his back and by instinct and without thinking, he threw his head backwards against his attacker real good, only to feel his own head throbbing with pain,. It felt like he just hit stone cold marble.

"Oufh!"

The attacker let go, whining and Ichigo fell to the floor, eyes white and rolled back and he held his head, groaning. "Why did you grab me you bastard!-"

It was Orihime who fell victim to his head butt.

"Ah! I'm so sorry Ichigo, my head is still hard, hahaha!" She giggled, Ichigo saw the forming red bump on her forehead.

"Orihime, are you alright?" asked Uryu, who was concerned and got down to her level to help her stand up, but she waved her hands while blushing.

"No, I'm okay really, I just wanted to let you know that we're about to serve the cake." She chirped.

He tried to soothe the back of his head. It brought back the memory of when he collapsed from exhaustion from his battle with Byakuya and Orihime tried to help him stay on his feet but he landed on her face instead. That was some time ago and he remembered it just now.

"Sounds awesome, let's go get some." Ichigo said. "And sorry about the head butt, it's a reflex." He apologized.

After he got back to the table everyone was waiting for him to sit down in front of a dark colored cake, most likely chocolate. They sang happy birthday, and the number 15 and sparkler candles were lit. Ichigo had to admit he felt like a kid again as he blew out the candles and everyone clapped.

"Hey Yuzu, what kind of cake did you make again?" Karin asked, cutting her piece of it.

"It's chocolate-fudge and peanut-butter." Yuzu said, beaming.

"Really? I don't think I've had this kind before." Ichigo was surprised.

"Knowing you, you hardly eat sweets, so I hope you like it." Tatsuki said in a matter of fact tone.

Ichigo took a bite, the taste was sweet and strong but not too much. It exploded on his taste buds and made the nerves in his cheek bones swell up. He liked it.

"It's awesome, you did great, Yuzu!" Ichigo said happily, Yuzu was clinching her hands watching anxiously and not paying any mind to anything else. She really wanted to know if it was good. Him saying this put her at ease and she felt proud of herself.

After another few minutes everyone brought their gifts to Ichigo, they were sitting in the living room and they had to get up and bring them. Ichigo didn't ask for anything, but he was happy with whatever they got for him. He was never someone who was picky or took someone's kindness for granted.

Uryu's was the first to be opened. He hoped he didn't bring him anything embarrassing for the most part. He opened the lid and to his surprise it took him a few seconds to see what he was looking at... it made him think of the 2nd day he met up with Rukia.

"Do you like them?" Uryu asked with a confident smile.

To be honest, he really did. They were hand knitted gloves, and not just any kind of gloves, they were _replicas _of the glove Rukia wore to bring Ichigo into his Soul Reaper form. The colors, designs of the skulls, and size were nearly exactly alike from the original and the detailing was spot on. There were two for each hand and they fit him nicely. The tips of the fingers were cut as well. Without knowing it, Ichigo had made the warmest light hearted smile on his face, his eyes were gleaming. So much time had passed since they met and these gifts gave him so much nostalgia. Then he dropped the smile and looked at everyone, their mouths were gaping.

"Woah! He's smiling! Everyone run for your lives!" Keigo yelled with concern and fear.

"Now that's a sight you don't see every day." Tastuki said amused.

Ichigo hid the gloves behind his back, blood was rushing to his head. He tried to hide it.

"Y...you've got it all wrong! These gloves aren't anything special!" He pouted.

Uryu saw it and forever implanted the sight into his brain. He knew he loved them. He chuckled softly to himself, he knew he hit the spot.

There was a sudden loud knock on the front door. Everyone went silent and stared at it, expecting it to knock again.

"Was there someone we forgot to invite?" Tatsuki wondered.

"I don't know about that." Mizuiro said.

"I'll go see." Ichigo wanted to stretch his legs anyway and try to hide his still red face.

He put the gloves into his pockets. He turned the knob and opened, but there was no one there. He took a few steps onto the patio to see if anyone was hiding, and still no one. He went to go back in when he felt something under his foot. He raised it and there was something on the ground. He bent down and picked it up. It was a smooth flat rock, with a cloth knot tied into a hole at one end. The rock was a glossy and glittery white inside and there were black letters engraved into it that he couldn't read;

**"Nunca me perdoar"**

Ichigo recognized some of the letters since they were from the English alphabet, but he knew for sure it wasn't English and he still couldn't read it. He went back inside and closed the door. The wind picked up as soon as he did. Someone was standing by one of the walls of the Clinic, chuckling evilly.

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**WHO was that weirdo at the end? and seriously who doesn't love a blushing Ichigo? Review please! ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

It was close to 10 pm by the time everyone left. Ichigo told his friends they were free to take some of his cake since he didn't eat sweets much, but he still saved some for himself. He was full and tired, and ready to crash for the night. He headed upstairs, but then someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey Ichigo, I got a question for you." It was his father.

"What is it?" Ichigo said tiredly.

"Tomorrow after school could you help me clean my office? There's some old patient's records that I need to toss and the place needs some spot cleaning, mind giving me a hand?"

Ichigo would've loved to say no, but he couldn't. It wasn't anything new since he had been helping his father for years with the clinic's business since he learned to walk.

"Sure, I'll help."

"Thanks son, I know you're tired, get some sleep," Isshin gave him a hard pat on the back, "Happy Birthday."

That hard pat made the teen lurch forwards and almost fall, and almost throw up the food he ate. He scowled at the older man who started to walk away, Ichigo rubbed his back to numb the pain.

Isshin stopped walking and stared out the window, he was frowning. He seemed to forget Ichigo was there, who noticed this. Was he seeing something?

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Ichigo said curiously.

"Nope, just my imagination." Isshin headed to his bedroom.

"Okay then."

Ichigo climbed up the stairs and went to his room. He remembered he still had the gloves from Uryu and the small box from Keigo in his pockets. He took them out and sat at his desk. The gloves he liked a lot. But he felt odd having two of them, maybe he could give one of them to someone? After all, the original glove was only a single set, which was what maybe felt off. He opened Keigo's, it contained 5 yen and a note;

_Sorry Ichigo, my sister took all my money to buy her own stupid things and made me go get them for her. I swear I wish I lived on my own. But this is all I can give, I hope it's enough. I'm sorry I get crazy and drive you nuts all the time, but you're a great friend and I wish you a Happy Birthday._ - K

That was probably the most sincere letter Keigo had ever written. Ichigo knew underneath that hyperactive outer shell of his, he was a decent guy. Which was the reason why Ichigo stuck with them all this time. He then looked at the charm he had found on the doorway with a language he couldn't understand. Someone must've meant to give it to him, the glittering white stone looked like a genuine rock and not factory made.

He heard a sudden sharp tap at his window, it made him flinch and break his thoughts. He quickly looked...it was Rukia.

"Rukia!" Ichigo got up from his seat and set the gifts down on his desk and looked at her.

"Fool, can you not just stand there and let me in, please?" She demanded.

"Fine, fine, jeez." He unlatched the locks and she jumped onto the bed and stood to face him, her jaw length hair blew from the breeze that came from outside and she patted her pants down. She was in her Soul Reaper form. She smiled at him.

"How are you? I heard it was your birthday and I do have something to give you later. But right now I need you to come with me."

"What? It can't wait?" Ichigo yawned, at this time he was supposed to be in bed.

"It's Captain Kurotsuchi and Ukitake's orders. We can't disobey," Her smile disappeared and she folded her arms. "There's some strange things going on and it might involve Hollows. We're going to a certain location to only observe and try to find anything out of the ordinary, are you awake enough?"

Ichigo sighed. Again something he wanted to refuse, but couldn't.

"Aright, but let's make it quick."

One quick grab of his Soul Reaper badge and he placed it on his chest, and they were off. They jumped into the air and it took them 10 minutes to get to the location.

Ichigo tried to sense anything, but didn't.

"So what's been going on? You gonna let me in on it?" Ichigo rubbed his face, trying to keep his eyes focused.

"There's not much to share, that's why we're here." She stated.

She stopped and so did he. In the distance there were police cars, their lights flickered and flashed. There were also ambulance vans and fire trucks, was there an accident?

"They said this is the location, let's take a look. But be warned..."

She turned to face him with a sad and serious expression.

"There's probably some dead people over there… and there might be blood." She finished saying.

Ichigo felt all the tiredness leave his body, as soon as he heard the words "dead" and "blood."

Ichigo wanted to ask Rukia more questions in order to make more sense of what was happening, then he reminded himself that's why they were there, to understand and try to find any clues. He prepared for what he was about to see.

For the normal people surrounding them, they couldn't see them of course. Which made Ichigo see why it was easy to take a look around. There was yellow caution tape in their way and they both lifted it to get through.

Ichigo's eyes widened in horror and shock.

She was right...blood was everywhere. There were 4 people sprawled on the ground, dead and wide eyed. Two of them held kitchen knives in their hands, one of them had a crazy smile on her face and it remained stuck. It was obvious a massacre took place here. There were even bits of internal organs that had been cut out and splattered on the ground as well. Some men held cameras and took pictures of their bodies.

"What the hell is this? What's going on, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, horrified.

She looked at him.

"This happened once before, but it was only 2 people that time. And that was less than a week ago. This may look like a typical murder case, but Kurotsuchi said they detected a Hollow's presence while these people went rampant. This is the same thing. The reason I brought you here is so you know about what's going on and what to look out for so you won't endanger yourself." She explained.

"You're doing this because you're concerned for me? How generous." Ichigo smirked.

"Hey, I'm not the one who's concerned, it was Ukitake who wanted me to come, he's the one who's worried for you."

Ichigo may have been wrong and due to being sleepy, but he thought he saw some red on Rukia's cheeks. But it may have been his imagination.

"So you think a Hollow's responsible?"

"It could be, the guys at Squad 12 are looking into it right now."

"If that was the case, my Badge should've gone off when this has been happening." Ichigo just realized that.

"If it didn't go off and there's a Hollow responsible, then we just have our work cut out. It might be something other than some Hollow."

They decided to take off, the sight of the scene was starting to make Ichigo feel uneasy. Rukia knew he was tired so they hurried back to his house.

After they got back to the bedroom Ichigo got back inside his body and immediately he was tired again. He almost crashed onto the bed but not before Rukia said something.

"Hey, I'll be back sometime. But here's my gift to you." She said cheerfully, she handed him an envelope.

"Thanks, I'll have to look at it tomorrow." He responded tiredly but happily, he set it on his desk.

"Goodnight." She left out the window.

Ichigo yawned.

_It's crazy that I still want to sleep after seeing a gruesome scene earlier. Does that make me weird?_

He turned off the light and finally got in bed, and he fell asleep as soon as he pulled the covers over himself.

* * *

Ichigo heard his father's voice calling him.

"Hey! Sleeping beauty, wake up!"

Ichigo automatically jumped and sat up, the morning sunlight almost made him go blind and he held his fists up. He thought his dad or someone was going to attack him, then he just sat there dumb folded.

He looked at his door, his dad was in the way holding it.

"It's almost 8, you gonna get to school or sleep in today?"

"It is?! CRAP!"

Ichigo grabbed the door and pushed Isshin into the hallway and heard a loud bang after he closed the door.

"You're welcome for waking you up!" Isshin yelled sarcastically.

"I need my privacy to change, idiot."

**After 12 pm…**

"So, Ichigo. You were late this morning?" Mizuiro asked, taking a bite of his lunch.

"Yeah, I was really out of it. Must've been from last night." Ichigo replied drinking his water bottle.

"Sounds like someone partied a little too hard." Keigo snickered.

"But thanks for the gifts guys, I appreciate it." Ichigo said to them.

"No sweat about it." Chad said softly.

As Ichigo was eating, he overheard the guys talking, then they went on about something weird...

"I was getting ready today and I saw on the news there was some freakish murders that took place last night and they said that the murderer possibly turned on herself after killing the other ones."

"R-really? Maybe she did it out of guilt? Some killers can do that after they realize their mistake."

Ichigo pretended to keep eating and continued to listen, he still remembered what he saw last night. He remembered one of the dead victims being a woman, she had a frozen insane look on her face. He started to feel chills.

"Hey Ichigo, do you know what might've happened?" Keigo asked, curious.

"Hell if I know."

"Aw, birthday boy grumpy? Here, lemme give you a hug."

Keigo leaned his body against Ichigo's back. Now, Ichigo was getting really tired of people trying to jump on him, Orihime was an accident, but it was time to take some fusers out.

Ichigo stood up and did it fast, he let his reflexes take over and grabbed his friend's collar and threw him on the ground on his back.

"Please don't touch me like that." Ichigo huffed.

"Come on, he was only teasing. You didn't have to be so hard on him." Mizuiro sighed.

"I'll say this guys," Ichigo patted off his pants, "It's best you stay out of it. It may have something do with Hollows and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hollows?" The two friends said at once, surprised.

"Yeah, that's what Rukia said when me and her took a look around last night-"

He said too much.

"What? You and Rukia went together to look there?" Said Mizuiro

"It's been awhile since we've seen her and she only comes for you? No fair!" Keigo whined.

"You sound disappointed, like did you expect her to come see you? You're not her type."

Keigo turned into a stoned statue and moaned. An arrow with the word "harsh truth" had been stuck through his head.

"But yeah guys, let the Soul Society and me deal with it, I'm not even supposed to tell you this stuff, so don't say another word to anyone and stay out of trouble."

"We got it."

* * *

It was after school and time to head home, Ichigo remembered he had to help his dad as soon as he got home. He was still a bit groggy from the party he had, sometimes some hot tea would wake him up when it wasn't time for bed yet and he needed to get his homework done.

_I should make some when I get there, and maybe before I help dad so I'm more alert._

Suddenly someone had called his name...

"Ichiiiiigoooooooooo!"

Ichigo sighed. This again? Ichigo could hear whoever just called him, running footsteps coming towards him at a fast rate, he distinctively raised his arm...

"IT'S BEEN SO LON-ACK!"

He stopped it with his arm and the person fell to the ground, moaning.

"Give me a break, Keigo! I'm sick of your-"

He stopped.

This person wasn't Keigo. In fact, he didn't know who this guy was. He had sort of spiky dark brown hair.

"Who the heck are you?" Ichigo said confused.

This man was out cold, drool was coming out his mouth and little swirls were circulating where his eyes should be, and his nose started bleed, his arms twitched. He wore a dark blue shirt and jeans.

"Oh crap. Hey! I'm sorry! Are you okay?" He said, concerned.

Ichigo set his bag down and took the man's wrist, feeling for any sign of a pulse. Positive. And he was still breathing. He smacked his face gently to try and wake him up, but he wouldn't.

"You can't be dead after that."

He needed some help. His house was still some ways to go and he just needed someone to look at him. Then he remembered Kisuke's shop, he could take him there and it was much closer. Then he thought about changing into his Soul Reaper form, but he scratched that idea, he would have to come back for his body if he did that and that would just be a pain.

"Looks like I'm hauling you there."

He picked up the unconscious boy onto his back and went there. A few minutes later, he was on Kisuke's doorstep, he knocked on it hard.

"Hey, Hat-and-Clogs! I need a hand here!" Ichigo yelled.

The door opened. A tall man he recognized came out, it was Tessai.

"Kurosaki? What're you-?

"Questions later, help me help this guy." Ichigo directed his eyes on the passed out man on his shoulders.

"Who is he?" Asked Tessai.

"I don't know, he tried to jump me and I accidently sent him sleeping." Ichigo explained.

Tessai led him to the spare bedrooms, there was already some blankets in the one they went into, Ichigo gently laid down the man.

'What can I help you with?"

Kisuke came in, with his usual cheerful tone and smile, he looked at the passed out boy on the floor.

"New friend of yours I take it?"

'Why would you think that? I've never met this weirdo and he tried to attack me." Ichigo glared.

"Oh? Like" kill you attack" or-?"

"Ah, forget it." Ichigo said irritably.

How long was this going to take? He was supposed to be home soon and help out his dad like he promised and he was sure he was going to be receiving a massive kick to the head if this guy didn't wake up now...

"Where am I?"

All three men looked, and sure enough he was waking up. The boy put one hand on his forehead and rubbed it. Then he opened his eyes all the way.

The color of his eyes took Ichigo off guard a bit, they were lavender. They looked familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he had seen this guy before. The man looked at him or rather, the kid did. Now that he could see, this kid looked to be about his age, maybe older.

"ICHIGO!" He screamed.

He opened his arms wide and latched himself onto him and it caused him and the boy to be forced onto a wall. Ichigo's eyes went wide from the unexpected hug, he was abnormally strong for a skinny guy! How could that be?

"Ah, it's been too long dude! I've missed ya!" He said happily, and hugged him tighter, now Ichigo couldn't breathe.

"You...idiot...let go of me." Ichigo choked.

"Hm? OH sorry!" The boy let go, worried.

Ichigo gasped for breath.

Tessai and Kisuke only watched, trying to understand what was going on. Kisuke made a nod to his assistant, signaling to him that they should leave the two alone.

"Ichigo, let us know if you need anything." Kisuke tipped his hat.

"What? You guys are gonna leave me alone with him?!" Ichigo said, flabbergasted.

They said nothing and closed the door. Ichigo was nervous, he was afraid this guy might accidentally kill him with his strength alone. The kid smiled widely, his light purple eyes shimmered with joy.

"It's good to see you again, it's been 7 years since I've last seen you." He chuckled.

"Hang on a second will you?! I've never seen you in my life, this has to be a mistake!"

He looked confused and tilted his head.

"Realmente?" (Really?) He said.

Ichigo had no idea what he just said.

"Ah! Sorry! I forgot to speak normally, instead of Portuguese." He scratched his head.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Ichigo was getting impatient.

He looked hurt. He bent his head down.

"You don't know? Do you not remember me...?" He looked at him again.

"Ichigo...it's me! Saisei Yokomura!"

"Saisei...?" Ichigo tried to think, he tried to remember anyone with that name, but got nothing.

"Maybe it will help if I tell you this; I was with you when you and your family went to your mother's funeral after she died, do you remember that?"

Actually, he did. They were memories he never wanted to think of again because they were so painful at the time, but he remembered a child's face that looked like Saisei's. He remembered holding hands with that child and hugging him.

"Give me another one." Ichigo told him.

"I was with you a few times with Tatsuki, she came to help fight some bullies for us and kick their asses while we were in middle school?"

Ichigo blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, and we met when we were 5."

Ichigo thought more. Yes. It was all coming to him. But he had to make sure and ask again.

"Shoot me one more."

"I know you can see the dead and ghosts and stuff, because I can too." His tone was firm.

Now he remembered everything. He met Saisei sometime after he met Tatsuki and they would have rounds with each other together with her at the dojo. He remembered Saisei wasn't much of a fighter even though he had unusual strength for a kid his age and didn't know how to utilize it at the time. They did so much together, motivated each other to get stronger, both of them were bullied for being different than some kids for their appearances. They were like brothers.

Ichigo smiled and made a light laugh.

"Saisei, it's good to see you too. I'm sorry for acting harsh to you, it's been so long and I must've forgotten somehow." Ichigo patted his shoulder.

Saisei's eyes gleamed. He put his fist on his eyes and started to sniffle.

"Are you crying?"

"No I'm not... but… okay _maybe..._ but it's just that I'm happy you remember, and ever since I left you a lot of crap happened that I had to deal with and I'm trying to hold it in."

For a few moments Ichigo felt like he was looking at not an adult, but a child. He sort of remembered Saisei was the sensitive type. Despite his age now, he still has a big heart.

"I know this is stupid. I'm supposed to be a man and not cry like a baby." He sniffed up his nose.

"It's okay, Saisei. Let me tell you something though; I have a friend, who you could probably meet later, she told me that crying is just a way to show you're strong, not weak."

"Really? I feel better then. Thanks."

"Don't worry about it, everyone has to cry, I sure have in the past." Ichigo said assuredly.

For over an hour they stayed in that room, talking and pointing out things they remembered in the old days. Ichigo forgot his worries and listened to Saisei, who let out some anger and frustrations he had experienced over the years. Ichigo was starting to like it, he never felt so relaxed talking to a friend like this in forever. He was less tense and he never wanted to stop now. He remembered another thing, Saisei possessed some talent in making others feel safe and secure, as soon as you met him, it was like a spell that couldn't be broken.

* * *

**Daawwww cute, eh? More to come and there's going to be some moar creepy things and ACTION finally, yes!** **For now this will be put on hold after I release new chaps of my other story, so stay tuned.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Things are gonna start to pick up from here, then yeah, new character coming up, can't wait to introduce her and she has a bit of a role to play X3**

* * *

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Ichigo knew this was coming, he ducked his father's punch, then he grabbed his father's arm and flipped him to the ground.

"You insolent...why are you so late?! You said you would help me with my office..." Isshin grunted.

"I know. I'm sorry, I ran into someone and he gave me a bit of trouble at first." Ichigo said dully.

Isshin blinked.

"What? Who was it?"

Ichigo stepped on his face and put his bag on a chair in the dining room.

"An old friend I had forgotten. He told me he moved back into town and he wanted to talk to me, that's all."

Ichigo smiled a little. It was good to see Saisei and be in his company. He played his conversation with him in his head, he wished he had more relaxing moments with his other friends like that.

"Ah, I see, sorry I was rough." Isshin said, he got up and rubbed his back and face.

"I'll help you start in a minute, I'm gonna go change into some different clothes."

A few minutes later the both of them got to work. They first started with a closet with old lab coats that were dusty and dirty and smelled bad. Then they removed boxes as his father told him contained old patient records, it was against the law to throw them way until a certain period of time when they were worthless and not needed.

"We won't need to sort through them because they're already 15 to 20 years old, so go ahead and put them in the garbage outside the office." His father instructed.

Ichigo did so then came back and went inside the closet again. On one shelf there were spines of old newspapers stacked on top of each other, he grabbed them all and set them on the floor.

"Hey, what about these?"

Isshin turned and smiled.

"Ah, those are newspapers that I found interesting so I kept them, some have old recipes for food I wanted to try, but never got to them, and a bunch of other things."

"Can I take a quick look?" Ichigo asked, holding one of them.

"Be my guest, but don't take long." Isshin made a thumbs up.

For 5 minutes the teen looked at them, but to be honest they weren't that interesting, but this was his dad's taste so he didn't say anything. Then, one caught his attention, his eyes widened in shock.

It read:

**158 Dead; Reasons Unknown.**

_"This morning as of November 30, 1985 It has been confirmed that 158 citizens of Karakura town have been brutally slaughtered, stabbed, beaten, and strangled to death. Some of them children as well. The cause or culprit has yet to be found and identified. All of these killings happened within 24 hours. The amount of bodies was so great the people that are alive could smell the aroma of blood in the air. Some of the victims' families have been found and contacted over the news and are distraught for the loss of their loved ones. One of the researchers of the morgue, where the bodies were taken for investigation, said they found no traces of drugs or diseases in their symptoms, and had decided to just comment for now that they possibly went crazy and started attacking each other. Further investigation is still on and will continue until a better answer is found..."_

"Hey Dad, do you remember this article?"

Isshin sneezed, dust had gotten into his nose and eyes and he tried not to rub his face. He looked at Ichigo bug eyed and his nose started to run.

"D-what?"

"This article, do you remember it?" Ichigo flailed it in the air.

Isshin walked over and bent his knees to look closer and adjusted his eyes. The dust made it hard to read. Then he sighed sadly.

"Yes, I do. Me and your mother at the time were pretty scared. We had to close the clinic for a few days until the incidents stopped. Man, how many years has it been?"

He took it from Ichigo's hands and studied it.

"Can I keep it to look at later?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure, I don't have any use for it, it's yours."

Ichigo took it back and set it on the kitchen table, when he was done cleaning he wanted to finish reading and show it to Rukia, it was very similar to what he and her had found that night, and maybe see if it was connected somehow. He hoped it was just some freak mishap with those people he saw.

After an hour later...Ichigo heard Yuzu yelling and screaming.

Both he and Isshin stopped what they were doing and ran to the kitchen. Ichigo made it first and looked to see if someone had broken into the house, if it was a human he could handle it, if it was a Hollow then he would have to hurry to his room and change into a Soul Reaper.

"Yuzu?! What happened?" Ichigo shouted.

Yuzu was crying and standing by the kitchen counter, where the old newspaper was. Luckily no one had broken in and there was no Hollow, she was scared by something.

"Ah, was it that newspaper I put there?" Ichigo put one hand on her shoulder to comfort her, "Sorry about that, but it's nothing to freak out over."

"No, it's not that, look at the floor!" She pointed.

"What?"

Ichigo walked past the table...

There were bright red footprints leading to where the newspaper was, and lead to the front door and there was a message carved into it:

"I'm here"

"What the hell?! Who could've done this?" Ichigo shouted.

Isshin watched the two of them and then he looked at the footprints, he knelt down close to one and he could see it was still wet and fresh, he put one finger on it, covering the tip with it and he licked it.

"What are you doing?! That's disgusting." Ichigo cringed.

Isshin stood back up and faced his son and daughter, still with his finger pointed up.

"There's no doubt about it...it's _real_ blood." He said firmly.

Yuzu whimpered and hugged Ichigo, she was really scared. Ichigo looked down at her and put his arm around her waist. He'd protect her if anything happened at this point, so he let her cling to him.

"But what if it's just a prank? Some punk snuck in and made some sick joke to scare us?" Ichigo suggested.

"If that was the case, we would've heard the door open or someone breaking in. Yuzu, when did you find this?" Isshin asked.

"Um, just now, and me and Karin got home 15 minutes ago. She's upstairs."

"And she didn't hear anything? Much less hear you scream?" Ichigo asked, a little confused.

"I was upstairs and she was in the bathroom taking a shower, so that's why didn't hear me." Yuzu explained.

"Ah, I see."

Ichigo looked at the newspaper and where the footsteps led, it looked like...someone had walked over to where it was, then turned around and they lead back to the door, was this presence looking at the old article? if so, what's the connection?

Some minutes later, Isshin called Yuzu and Karin downstairs, he explained what had happened while Karin was busy, she was shocked and horrified. He made an offer to them.

"I know you must be scared by this, so...how about we all go grab some dinner to calm down your nerves?" He suggested happily.

The two sisters looked at each other then smiled faintly at their father.

"Sure, let's do it."

"You wanna join us Ichigo?" Isshin asked.

"I'll stay here. I still want to read that paper and try and figure out where those footprints came from. Also Rukia and I are investigating something in town, she might need me later." He explained.

"You and her are? Alright, I understand. It's not every day you get to spend time with a girlfriend like that." Isshin winked.

Ichigo's vein on his temple popped.

"What made you think that? She's not my girlfriend! No way in hell!"

"I was just teasing. Also, we'll finish the office maybe tommorow or another time. And how about you take a day off tommorow? You've been working hard today and that'll give you free time to help Rukia."

"Really?"

Ichigo thought about it for a moment, he'd hate to ruin his attendance but since weird things have come up, it's a good opportunity and excuse to do so.

"Alright then, I'll let everyone know I won't be coming, and I can help Rukia like you said.

"Good to hear. Alright girls, let's go, we'll bring you something to eat as well. And also.." Isshin needed to say this, "We won't call the cops for now, we'll just assume that it may associate with what you and her are looking into first."

Isshin waved and grabbed his car keys, the girls went outside the door and left.

**This was meant to be a longer chapter, but too lazy to add more XD, but more good things to come.**


	5. Chapter 5

Ichigo called Rukia and still no answer.

While he waited, he took the time to read the article. It was truly tragic and disturbing. But the worst part of it was that it seems to this day, the person responsible was never caught, and it irked him greatly. If it was a person who made all those people die, how could he live with himself? People like that made him so angry. But then again, it could've been some other reason but they never figured out the true cause.

He looked at the article again and picked up from where he had left off. The photos were old and because of their age, they were discolored and hard to see. But it did show where some of the deaths had taken place. He looked at the date again, it happened almost a year before he was born. But as for the rest of the story, there wasn't much else. Pretty much a cold case.

Ichigo heard a tap on his window, and looked at it.

Rukia.

"Hey!"

He put down the paper and went to the window, he was so eager to tell her what had happened. He opened it and Rukia made a faint smile, it looked like she had something to say.

"How is it? Has anything new happened?" She asked.

"First, can you tell me why you're here again, and why haven't you answered my calls?" Ichigo raised his brows.

"It couldn't be helped, I had paperwork to fill out and I've been on the lookout for anything that's been going on in Karakura." She moaned.

"I think I have something." Ichigo smirked.

"And that is?" She folded her arms, fully alert.

"About an hour ago, me and Dad and my sisters found fresh bloody footprints in the kitchen."

"Be serious, Ichigo. How does that have anything to do with it?"

"I'm getting there! There wasn't any signs of a break in, and who ever made the footprints...," Ichigo picked up the old paper and showed it to her, "May have been looking at this."

"What?"

She took it from his hands.

"I need you to read it. Tell me what you think."

After three minutes, she read it with concern and some shock. She put one hand by her forehead and closed her eyes, thinking.

"Um..." Ichigo said, not sure what to say.

"I sort of remember this. They kept record of these deaths in the archives back at the Soul Society. Back then I took a look at the reports. It's awful, it really is."

"You must be thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Ichigo said.

"Yeah. This is very much like those deaths we found that night." Rukia nodded.

"So, you think this guy or whatever is back? And he wants to kill more for the hell of it?" Ichigo shrugged.

"I can't say. And actually, we have to go," She put the paper on the bed, "because it happened again."

"What?!" Ichigo said, shocked.

"That's why I came here. To get you and see what's up. They said they sensed a Hollow presence again while it happened."

Now he was determined to put a stop to this, he hated seeing these people die and was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Alright, I'm coming."

* * *

The two reached their destination. It was worse than before. This time, 6 people were declared dead. More police and forensics researchers were there than last time. Blood had been spread across the whole block. Ichigo fought the urge to throw up. He has been in many battles in the past, blood usually never got the best of him, this time it did. He held down the temptation to hurl.

"I know this is hard, but man up." Rukia told him.

"I know that, I'm working on the want to not vomit." He snapped, annoyed.

The two walked around, and once again the people couldn't see them. They looked closer at the corpses. Three of them had knives and the others had bloody fists and knuckles, almost exposing the bones. Some of them had insane smiles frozen on their faces and eyes open. The investigators started to pick up the bodies and put them in bags. After some time the corpses were all taken away.

"Now that they're gone, let's look for any clues." Rukia said.

Aside from blood everywhere, there wasn't much else. The weapons they had used were left untouched. While Ichigo looked around he went over to the police officers chatting amongst themselves, maybe they found something he had missed.

"-I've never seen anything like this. I've had my share of disturbing things in my line of work, but this is the worst."-

-"Did they ever tell you what happened back in '85? Now they're saying that possibly the killer has come back-"

-"No, what happened?-"

-"I was there at that time, I had to help a lot of families try to calm themselves after they went frantic for their family members.-"

"Ichigo!"

Rukia had called him, he looked over to where she was. She was holding her pager in front of her, the bright screen glared against her skin. She gestured her head, signaling him to come over. He ran to over to her.

"What is it?"

"It's happening again, I just got information that it's in the west side of the town. If we leave now, we might find something there."

* * *

Right in that location, a man was frantically running for his life, running away from someone, or _something_ after him.

"L-leave me alone! I don't want to die!"

He ran to a warehouse and tried to hide in the darkness.

"I'll spare you from suffering." A distance voice said.

The frightened man panted heavily, trying to catch his breath and be quiet. He sat for a few minutes, then got up and looked around to see if he was safe and try to run away again. Moonlight provided enough shadow to hide in at least, but not for long.

"I see you."

He jumped and fell to the ground. A tall person in front of him came closer, with a long weapon in hand, it reflected in the moonlight and it was covered in dried crimson blood.

"NO! DON'T KILL ME!"

The person stopped walking, face covered in shadows and only their eyes glowed through.

"To me, you're already dead, why not just give in? Before you lose your humanity."

"What are you talking about!? I don't know you or what's going on-" He stopped and started breathing faster and chuckling, his eyes became black and his irises were purple.

"SCREW YOU, BITCH!" The man hissed and roared. He crawled on his feet and hands and charged, his face contorted with an insane smile and ran like a rabid dog.

The person didn't flinch, he raised his weapon, which was a sword and struck him without any effort.

"I said you're already dead to me. Rest in peace."

The now dead man fell to the ground, blood starting to gush from under him, staining the ground with its crimson color.

The person sighed, irritated.

"How can I stop you?" he whispered, looking to the moon.

"That's as far as you go."

The now murderer looked ahead of him. He could see two Soul Reapers.

Ichigo and Rukia got there only seconds after the man was struck and killed, had watched scene unfold. Rukia calmly put her hand on the tip of her sword handle in preparation for anything that would come at them.

"Soul Reapers. What business brings you here?"

"That's what we want to ask to you, dumbass. Why in the world are you killing these innocent people?" Ichigo demanded.

"Hmph."

The person walked forward, and revealed himself at last, or rather herself, this took Ichigo off guard. This newly revealed woman was dressed all in white attire, had long, silky, snow-white hair, and blood red eyes, with white eyelashes. Her outfit covered her from her neck down, long sleeves and pants that was similar to a Soul Reaper's uniform.

"As if you could understand, after all you're just a human, aren't you?" She replied with a cool, harsh tone.

"H-how do you know that?" Ichigo asked, nervous.

"Come with us, or we will be forced to fight you." Rukia threatened.

She turned in the opposite direction not looking at them.

"Go home." Was all she replied.

She started to walk away.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me and walk off!" Ichigo ran at her, big mistake.

She vanished.

_"Stay out of my business, half breed."_ A hiss was heard.

"Ichigo! LOOK OUT!"

Ichigo looked behind him and saw her with her blade coming right for his face! He blocked her with Zangestu. The bursting reiatsu from their colliding blades caused the ground to quake and made the building creak and shudder as well. Dirt and dust fell as he pushed against her, his sword making it to her chest, pushing her own sword against her clothing, before she disappeared.

Ichigo looked around for her, then spotted her from a few feet away. Her upper clothing had been ripped apart, almost exposing her chest, and she held one arm to prevent it from falling.

Ichigo gasped.

A hole was in the center of her chest.

"You... you're... an Arrancar?"

She glared at him, her red eyes were enough to send chills down anyone's spines.

"You little bastard, you not only ripped my clothing, but now know my identity." She hissed through her teeth at him.

"Please tell us, why are you hurting people!?" Ichigo shouted, desperate to know.

"You'll know soon enough."

"Tell us, Arrancar, can we know your name?" Rukia asked.

She made a dull expression and closed her eyes.

"Izena. My name is Izena. May as well let you know since I've been found out. Farewell for now."

She vanished again.

"Wait!" Ichigo held his arm out, although she was already gone.

Rukia came up behind him.

"Now it all makes sense. The Hollow we were picking up on was her this whole time. We know her face now and I can report this later."

"How do you know if it really was her? You don't know the whole truth."

"Idiot! Were you not paying attention?!" She pointed to the corpse, "You saw it all, she struck down that human without remorse."

"There's no need to get pissy at me! There may be more to this than we think!" Ichigo enforced.

"I'm the professional here and know how to do this. Remember you're still a Substitute Soul Reaper!"

"And you're still a sucky artist and a midget." Ichigo pouted his lips while looking in a different direction.

* * *

The two made it back to the house and Rukia was on her pager making her report for her Captain. Ichigo on the other hand, went to the kitchen, getting ice in a bag to soothe the massive bump on his head and another bump on his cheek. Rukia's gifts and handiwork.

"You doing alright?" Rukia came in and turned on the light.

"Just peachy." Ichigo remarked.

Rukia gasped. She had looked at the floor and saw the dried footprints. She bent down for a closer look.

"You weren't lying about these, if I'm correct."

"I wouldn't lie about something like this. It really freaked out my sisters, who could blame them?"

She continued looking at them and put her hand closer to one print.

"Don't touch it, my dad had the nerve to lick it to confirm it was blood."

"I see, if it has anything harmful in it, then I won't." She took her hand back.

"Who do you think that Arrancar was? I've never saw her while we were in Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime."

"I don't know either."

"Oh and another thing I've forgot to tell you, during my birthday party, Uryu said he saw someone talking to a Hollow and he wasn't speaking Japanese, from what he told me."

This really caught Rukia's attention, she stood up.

"Go on."

"And ever since, things have been weird and that's when those people started dying. If that Arrancar is responsible for everything, she might be plotting something. She might even be the same person talking to the Hollow Uryu saw."

"We can assume that. For now, all we can do is keep alert and keep looking for more clues." Rukia suggested.

"Yeah."

"I have to go now, you have school tomorrow and I don't want to keep you up." Rukia made a considerate smile at him.

"Oh about that, I'm skipping. It would be easier for me to be on the lookout like you want me to. And..." Ichigo paused, he wasn't sure if he wanted to mention about Saisei to her yet.

"What is it?"

"Ah, it's nothing, I'll tell you another time."

"Alright. Keep me posted." Rukia said.

* * *

**Longer and hopefully better than last chapter. Weird stuff is getting weirder, lol. Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Ichigo jumped up from his bed and looked at his alarm, it was 9:30 am, he had to hurry...or wait...

"Ah I forgot, I'm taking the day off today." He rubbed his eyes and face.

Then he smiled and laid back down on the bed.

"I haven't slept in like this in forever."

It was a great feeling, waking up without having to worry about doing anything or getting ready for school. Then he reminded himself that he was still on the job, and made a note to not slack off too much. He got up, took a shower, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. He remembered to take his cell phone to text his friends about his plans for the day.

"There's gotta be some talk about those incidents last night."

He turned on the TV and surfed the channels, after two minutes he landed on his local channel. Since the early morning news usually started at 6 am, he thought that maybe he already missed it. But he watched and sure enough the reporters and head anchors were talking about it all. He listened as he ate.

"It has been rounded up, 13 people are now dead in the same week, and no one has been caught as a suspect. The victims are unrelated to each other but have died the same way, killing each other until they stop breathing..."

They turned to an interview with one of the family members, it appeared to be a brother, he was saddened by his loss.

"We've already lost our parents, they were also killed 20 years ago..."

Ichigo's attention went up...

"20 years...?"

He listened.

"They were also beaten and stabbed the same way. Me and my brother had to live with our grandparents since then. I was only kid back then..."

Ichigo went into thought, was he talking about the deaths in 1985? So this guy's parents were some of the victims caught in it? So they were all in some way connected. But what about the rest of the victims? They could've just been killed at random...

"Augh, more questions and less answers."

He took his cell phone and texted to Tatsuki.

_Hey, sorry I'm not in school today, I have some Soul Reaper business to take care of. Can you tell that to everyone else for me? Thanks._

After he finished sending it, there was a knock at the door.

He got up and opened it, finding a young man with dark hair and a beaming smile. He waved his hand. It was Saisei.

"Morning, Ichigo! How are ya?"

"Ah, fine. Good to see you again."

This time he wore some jean shorts and a gray tank. Probably because it was still summer he needed to wear cool attire.

"I came to see you again!" he said with a happy smile. "I'm sorry for not letting you know ahead of time because I don't know your cell number." He apologized.

"No sweat," Ichigo waves his hand, "Wanna come in?"

"Yeah!" Saisei said happily.

As soon as he came in he started humming a tune, which was unrecognizable to Ichigo, then Saisei sighed.

"Nothing has changed since I left. It's the same."

"Pretty much. You want something to drink?" Ichigo offered and started to lead him to the kitchen.

"Hang on, can I look upstairs for a minute? I haven't been there forever and I remember when I came to visit you during those years I loved going up there." He begged.

"Sure, go ahead."

He ran and jumped up the stairs.

As Ichigo went to the kitchen, he realized the footprints that were there were cleaned off and were gone. His dad or sisters must have done it while he was busy with Rukia last night.

Upstairs, Saisei checked every room, including the bathroom. So many fond memories he had here and he remembered them all. He would come to spend the nights over with Ichigo, and Tatsuki would also join in the party, but she couldn't stay over since she was female and only the two of them stayed together. He looked into Ichigo's bedroom and smiled to himself.

Downstairs Ichigo was finishing up his breakfast. Then he heard Saisei start to come down and he appeared.

"Having fun yet?" Ichigo asked.

"Yep. A blast." Saisei chuckled.

"You still want something to drink?"

"Yeah, some water is fine."

Ichigo got up to get a glass, filled it up, and set it on the table where Saisei sat.

He took a sip, then set it down and Saisei frowned a little.

"Oh by the way, aren't you supposed to be in school?" He wondered.

"I'm taking the day off today." Ichigo told him.

"Ah, I see. If it's okay and you're not busy, could we hang out and have some fun today?"

Ichigo paused. He thought about the question. He wouldn't mind doing that, however he still had to look out for anything suspicious. Then it came to him... should he tell the truth? That he was a Soul Reaper? He already had the same ability to see ghosts. Then maybe...

"Before I answer that Saisei, are you already aware of the stuff that's been going on in town?"

Saisei was quiet, and not looking at him, he looked distant and his eyes were glazed over, he looked as if he was in a trance. Then the glass of water he held in his hand broke. It shattered loudly. Saisei frowned and grunted as if he was in pain.

Ichigo jumped and shielded his face with one hand and stood up alarmed.

"Saisei?"

Saisei shook his head and looked at him, the normal light was back in his lavender eyes. He looked down and gasped.

"OH! I'm sorry!" He cried.

He stood up and started picking up the shards of glass.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were kind of angry." Ichigo stated.

"I'm sorry. This happens sometimes, I go into my own little mindset and forget what I'm doing. And I've still been struggling with my strength."

Ichigo went and got a dry towel to help him soak up the water.

"But I heard your question. Yes, I do know about the deaths and murders going on. And that's when I sort of spaced out you see. I also tend to scare people by accident." Saisei shrugged and sighed.

"Has this always happened?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"Sometimes. It happens when I'm thinking hard and my motor skills move on their own, or when someone asks me a certain question. It could be because I do have ADHD. I'll try to stay focused. Sorry if I scared you."

Saisei made a small smile.

"It's okay. Here's what I need to tell you,"...

Ichigo took a deep breath, if he was going to get into trouble later for telling Saisei his other identity, he would protect him and take all the blame for it.

"You and I, for as long as we can remember, have seen ghosts. I know you can. Three years ago, a being called a Soul Reaper came into my room, her name is Rukia Kuchiki. She's the same person I mentioned yesterday while you and I talked. When I met her for the first time, another entity attacked my family, called a "Hollow". They feed of the spirits of the dead and the living at the same time, but they only go for the ones with high spirit energy and can see Hollows. While this Hollow attacked, Rukia transferred her Soul Reaper powers to me and gave me the power to protect my family. So I am also a Soul Reaper, and I have been ever since."

Saisei only looked at him, he looked as if he was wanting to believe him yet doubtful at the same time.

"Hm. I've known you long enough that you would never lie to me, but I'm not sure if I should believe that story right away. But since I can see things no one else can, I'm willing to take your word for it."

_That is good enough, at least. _Ichigo thought.

"So you said that you're a… what exactly?" Saisei asked.

"A Soul Reaper. My job is to fight and kill Hollows so that they don't hurt people and send them to the Soul Society, and that's another part of it too."

"The Soul Society?"

"A lot say it's like an afterlife, I send people there that were Hollows so they can live without pain and be reincarnated back to our world."

"Interesting."

"Sorry, this is sudden of me to talk about and if it makes you uncomfortable, but the point is, me and Rukia are thinking that the deaths of those people may have something to do with a Hollow."

"I've never seen one so I can't back that up for you. What do they look like?"

"They look like huge monsters with holes in their chests. If I do hang out with you today we might end up finding one and I can show it to you."

"It's a yes then? We can have fun and I'll be able to see one?" Saisei asks happily.

"Yeah, we'll do it."

"Awesome!" Saisei stretched his arms up in joy.

"What do you want to do, exactly?" Ichigo asked.

...

Upstairs, Rukia tapped on the window of the bedroom, and peeked in, she noticed Ichigo wasn't there. She could sense he was downstairs.

"I haven't done this in a while."

Since she was in her Soul Reaper form, she slipped her body into the window, over the bed and made contact to the floor. She froze. Something...something was here, with Ichigo?

The air was somewhat thick, it carried an ominous scent and it felt like...there might be a Hollow nearby.

She decided to track down the presence and creep quietly out of the room and down the stairs. She gently grasped her sword handle and headed to the kitchen, she felt he was there along with whatever may be planning to attack them both...she peeked over the door frame.

Ichigo was there alright, and with another person she had never seen before. Was he the Hollow? No...

_Wait, that can't be right! _She thought.

She looked closer, and could see this boy looked like an ordinary human, no mask or no hole, but as for a hole she couldn't tell since he was sitting in a chair and its frame was blocking out his back. But why...

_There has to be some mistake, I know a sensed a Hollow. But it's gone..._

"Rukia?"

Ichigo had spotted her. She had forgotten she was supposed to hide and accidently exposed half of her face over the doorway.

"You're here again?"

"Who is?" The person she was staring at turned in his seat and looked where Ichigo was.

Rukia hid behind the doorway, stiffening her jaw in tension. She was nervous and confused.

_What is going on? I know Ichigo isn't the best at detecting Hollows but if it was right here. There's no way he could miss it. Who is that human? I sensed something very dangerous from him._

"Hey, what are you doing back there?" Ichigo asked, an annoyed tone started to form in his voice.

Saisei looked at Ichigo then were Rukia was hiding.

"That's Rukia? She's the friend you talked about?"

_What is he doing acting friendly with a Hollow? Wait, calm down. I'll just ask this person who he is._

She took a step out and put her hand on her sword hilt. She would wait to draw if there was an attack. She walked closer to the two.

Saisei gasped.

Ichigo only stared, dumb founded and annoyed.

"Uh, hello there...are you...Ichigo's friend?" Saisei asked.

Rukia stood there, shocked.

"You can see me? Who or what are you?" Rukia asked firmly.

"The hell are you doing, Rukia? He's my old friend I've known for years."

"Friend?" Rukia kept her eyes locked on her target, yet he seemed unafraid of her.

Ichigo sighed and got up from his seat and walked to her.

"For cryin' out loud please don't pull out your sword. He's a good guy and he's not here to hurt any one of us." He explained.

"When I came to your room Ichigo, you weren't there so I slipped in and after I did I felt a Hollow's presence. I'll explain the reason I'm here, but first this person needs to explain himself." She said, pointing at Saisei.

Saisei continued to stare. He felt odd. But mostly he had never seen such a beautiful woman, much less a real Soul Reaper. Her energy, he could feel it, was fierce and strong. In the past when he would talk to ghosts, he could feel all sorts of energy from them, he was thinking Soul Reapers were a kind of ghost, but this was much different. It felt like a whole unique level.

"You think he's a Hollow? Don't be ridiculous Rukia. Saisei, tell her." Ichigo insisted.

"Uh what?" Saisei only heard half of what he said.

"Tell her who you are." Ichigo said.

"Uh, right, sorry." Saisei stood up and went to greet Rukia.

"My name is Saisei Yokomura, There's no need to be afraid of me and I'm not going to attack anyone, it's nice to meet you Miss Soul Reaper."

Reading him now, Rukia could see he was truly a human. And he was able to see her. All the things she felt earlier were long gone. She removed her hand from her sword.

"Nice to meet you as well Saisei. I'm sorry for thinking you were an enemy, but it's what I do. We Soul Reapers take our job very seriously and our priority is eliminating anything that harms humans, but I am sorry for thinking you were a hollow."

Now that she could see his face better, nothing else but his eyes stood out to her. Not very many people she knew had eyes that color. They were very pretty.

"So, why are you here, Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"About that. I came here because I'm going to be staying with you until we stop or question that Arrancar we met last night. In short, I'm assigned to it as my mission. The others may be coming to help if I think we need them.

"Alright, but it's fine if it's just us right? I don't want to stuff up my room."

"You'll live."

"So Miss Rukia, you're here to look into the deaths that have been happening? And what's an Arrancar?"

Rukia looked at Ichigo, he could sense what she was thinking.

"I was filling him in about everything before you got here, if that's alright." Ichigo shrugged, he hoped she wouldn't be too mad at him for it.

"Normally people like him should not know and I'm supposed to make sure he doesn't, but as long as he keeps it to himself, it should be fine."

"And Ichigo asked me to help, CAN I?" He clasped his hands before him and begged.

Rukia jumped, not expecting him to raise his voice, he sounded like a kid wanting his favorite candy.

"U-um, I'm not too sure about that, you'd be putting yourself in danger and I can't take that chance-"

"Ah I know, I know. Because I don't know how to fight and all. No worries, I'll be observing and I'll let you know if I find anything." He said eagerly.

"As long as you stay safe, I suppose it's okay." Rukia smiled. She was actually liking that they had at least one ally willing to cooperate.

A minute later all three sat down and explained the plan for the day, to which Rukia was disagreed on what would be taking place.

"Saisei came to ask if me and him could hang out, and I know we're on a job here-"

"Fool, we can't be doing that," Rukia firmly interrupted. "A serial killer is on the loose and you want to mess around? You can't."

Saisei pouted, his eyes darkened a little.

"But..." Rukia thought, "You two can hang out later in the day maybe?" She suggested.

Saisei made the "puppy eyes" to Ichigo. Ichigo secretly held in the attempt to chuckle.

"Yeah, it's no problem. I don't want to let him down."

Ichigo looked at him.

"Would you like to stick around with us until we're done?"

"Yeah, it's no problem! I'll just have to let my mom know." Saisei said happily.

"How about this evening if nothing has happened we go do something together then?"

"I'm all up for it." Saisei chuckled and smiled.

As they talked Rukia watched Saisei. She mentally slapped herself for thinking he was some enemy since there was no malicious intent that she could sense coming from him. But as to what she felt earlier, she would still keep any tabs on him to see if he displayed anything suspicious.

* * *

**Sorry not much has happened yet, I wanted to do another one with Saisei to make more depth to him. But next chapter much more is to come, stay tuned!**


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